No Matter What You Do
by SharonH
Summary: BuffySupernatural. The Winchesters have a whole new world opened up to them that they never considered could exist. There will be pairings, not sure how that will go yet.
1. Chapter 1

**_A/N: Okay. 1) I've taken total liberty with timelines. This is happening during the current Supernatural season, but in Buffy World the destruction of the hellmouth was only a year ago. 2) I'm going to try to stay true to the characters but I'll be making some changes here and there. Also, I don't follow the Buffy comics, so I take it all from the show. _**

**1) Brothers, Witches, and Kitchen Doors.**

The cemetery was cold. She almost laughed as the thought hit her. Duh...it was late October in Detroit Michigan. Of course it was cold. Add to that the fact that cemeteries always gave people the creepy-crawlies...and she was definitely not the exclusion to that rule no matter what her lot in life was. She sighed heavily and kicked a loose rock across the ground. Then she frowned. She hoped she hadn't scuffed her boot. They were a brand new pair of french-vanilla leather ankle boots, with the cutest little heel. Maybe she shouldn't have worn them out to patrol.

"God damned it's cold. How much longer we gotta stay out here B?" Faith blew out an exasperated breath and looked at her companion who seemed lost in thought. So far they'd come across nothing to dust and it was starting to piss the brunette slayer off. She wanted to kill something...well, something evil. Faith pulled the coat closer around her body. "B?"

Buffy looked over at Faith and smiled slightly. "I don't think anything is coming out tonight. The two we staked yesterday seem to be the only vamps in town. I expected more really."

Faith nodded. They'd gacked two extremely tough baddies the night before and she still had the bruised ribs to prove it. Even with her accelerated healing. "Where we heading next?"

"Don't know. Gotta check in with Giles." the petite blonde replied and the two girls started the trek back to the hotel the two had holed up in. "Hoping we get to go home for awhile." Again Faith nodded. She too wanted to go back to the home they'd settled into.

It had been a year since Sunnydale had been destroyed. Six months since what was left of the baby slayers had been dispersed throughout the world to fight what evil remained. It was back to the core group really; Buffy, Faith, Dawn, Xander, and Willow. Of course Kennedy had stayed with Willow, but she was part of the gang now. Giles had gone back to England to rebuild the Watchers, but they kept in close contact with him daily. Giles had been the one to notify them when the Big Bad had happened four months before. Hell had literally broken loose because of some hunters; the Winchester Brothers. Apparently the vampires had decided this was a sign that they could have free reign. So far Buffy, Faith, and the rest of the Scoobies had been dealing with the influx of activity from both vamps and demons.

Sam had been awfully quiet since they'd left Des Moines. Dean hadn't wanted to pester the guy too much. The blonde girl had shown up three times in the past three weeks, and Sam had told him only that she said she wanted to help. What really irked Dean was the fact that the girl was a demon. Sure, Sammy said he didn't trust the girl, but could Dean count on that? Dean tried to shrug it off. Hell, the girl had helped Bobby fix the colt. In all reality, all Dean really wanted to do was kick some demon ass and in his down time get the most out of the last year of his life. Sam's phone came to life with some obscure ring tone, and the dark haired man answered it quickly.

"Bobby?"

Dean frowned. He hadn't expected to hear from the older man for a while. Dean wondered what news he was giving to Sam. Only being able to hear his brother's side of the conversation was starting to annoy him. "What's he saying?" he asked as he pulled the Impala over to the side of the road and stared at his brother expectantly.

Sam waved a hand at him in annoyance. "Really? I've never heard of anything like that..."

"Well, what's he saying?"

"I thought that was a natural disaster."

"Dude, what's he saying?" Dean snapped.

"Okay Bobby, if you're sure it'll work out We'll meet you there." Sam hit the end button and looked over at Dean. "Bobby says he found out from someone very reliable that there's something big happening in Newburg Tennessee. We're supposed to meet him and some others in Whisper South Carolina and then we'll move to Tennessee from there."

"Other hunters want to work with us? That's different... South Carolina huh?" Dean mused, then grinned. "You know how much I like those southern girls."

Sam just shook his head. "Bobby said that this group we're going to be meeting up with has experience with a hell-mouth."

"What's a hell-mouth?"

"It's like a big hole that's constantly open for bad stuff to come through. Not one big burst like we did, but a constant leak."

"Where the hell was that?"

"Sunnydale California."

Dean's mouth gaped open. "I remember hearing about that town. A year ago. It was wiped out by an earthquake."

"Yeah, I remembered too, but Bobby said it wasn't an earthquake. It was this group closing the hell-mouth."

Dean smirked. "Gee, it almost sounds as if they're as destructive as we are."

"We? You mean you."

"Oh, come on now Sammy, you were with me every time." Dean grinned widely and pulled back onto the road doing a U-turn. "Plot the course little brother. We're going to South Carolina."

The black Impala pulled up the dirt drive and parked in the open area in front of the big red farmhouse. There were several other cars parked in the general vicinity, and the Winchesters instantly spotted Bobby's car. "Looks like we found the right place." Dean murmured.

"This truly is the middle of nowhere." Sam looked around the place where they were to meet this group of hunters Bobby thought so highly of. "It looks deserted."

Dean quirked an eyebrow at his brother. "Let's go check it out."

The house was a large two story. It looked as though at one point it was perhaps a plantation house. There was a porch that made its way around the entire house. White shutters framed every window.

The two men got out of the car and tucked their guns into the back waistband of their jeans. They approached the front screen door cautiously. Sam was right, it was extremely quiet. Sam rapped his knuckles on the frame of the door. "knock knock." he called out. There was no answer, but now the guys could hear a television running faintly in the background. Dean opened the door and stepped inside.

"Maybe we should wait for someone to show up before just walking in." About ten feet inside the entrance was a staircase heading up. An open doorway was directly to their right. Sam felt a sinking in his gut.

"Come on Sammy, we don't know what's happened. What if something bad happened and we're needed to ride to the rescue?" Dean pulled out his gun. As soon as he pulled it in front of his body a redhead who seemed to be the same age group as the brothers appeared at the top of the stairs.

She pushed out her hand and yelled "Freeze!" before the brothers could do anything but widen their eyes in shock.

The two men locked up immediately. "Sammy?" Dean grunted.

"I can't move." Sam said between clenched teeth.

"What the hell just happened?" Dean was close to freaking out.

The redhead looked smug and she headed downstairs. She was an attractive girl with a wide smile. A teenage girl with long brown hair and big blue eyes came around the corner from the men's right. "Way to go Wills." She told the redhead with a grin. "I honestly didn't think it would work."

"Dawn, you should have more faith in me. Faith, get it? I mean, hello? End of the world girl here." Now the redhead was grinning, and the teenager was snickering. Then the redhead turned a frown on the guys. "You big bad nasties come into our house thinking you can put a cap in us..."

The girl, Dawn, tilted her head. "Have you been watching The Sopranos again?"

"Maybe." The word was drawn out as the redhead sighed. "But hey, they do have guns. Ergo they would be able to bust a cap in something or someone, namely us."

"Big bad nasties?" Dean asked.

"Put a cap in you?" Sam was just as confused as his brother.

"Hey, who ate all the Cocoa Krispies?" Now another brunette came around the corner past the stairs and to the left. This one was older than the teen, but still younger than the two men and the redhead. "Will, Sweetie, what did you do?" she asked as she stared blankly at the two men, the empty cereal box now forgotten.

"I captured bad guys."

"What if they're the guys Mr. Singer was waiting for?"

"Oh thank god..." Dean started but the redhead raised a finger and he fell silent. He tried to speak but nothing came out.

"They're carrying weapons." Willow said as if that explained everything. "It's not like I hung them upside down or anything."

"And they're total hotties." Dawn interjected. "I mean if they were hunters they'd be all scarred up and grizzled right? Of course slayers aren't but then they don't technically count as hunters right? OR would they be counted as the top hunters? the elite of all hunterdom?"

"Maybe they're Jehovah's Witnesses?" The third girl offered as the teen rambled.

"Oh Goddess, I hope not." This thought seemed to alarm Willow. She hurried down the stairs and looked at the two men who were frozen in place. "You're not are you? I mean, I don't have anything against you guys or anything...hey, I'm all about the whole freedom of religion thing...we just don't need the literature, and we really don't have the time to sit down and chat...It must really be dangerous out here if you guys have to carry weapons..."

"No. We're here to see Bobby." Sam managed.

The redhead smiled a relieved smile. "Oh, well why didn't you say so?" She snapped her fingers, and both men dropped to the ground unexpectedly as they became free.

They stood up cautiously and stared warily at the three girls. Dean grimaced, "We would have, but you didn't give us the chance."

Willow flushed. "Oh...right."

"Hi, I'm Kennedy." The third girl introduced herself. "You must be the Winchesters?"

Sam reached out and shook the girl's hand. "I'm Sam, this is my brother Dean."

"I'm Willow, welcome to the Scoobies base of operations." the redhead was now smiling prettily. "This is Dawn." She pointed to the teenager who grinned and gave a wave. "Come on, I'll take you out back to where Giles and Mr. Singer are." She only stopped momentarily to bestow a kiss on Kennedy's pleased mouth. "Xander ate the cereal, and then finished off the waffles." Willow practically skipped down the hall and turned left where Kennedy had come from. The Winchester brothers followed and were sort of amused to hear Kennedy muttering under her breath about what she was going to do to the before mentioned Xander. Some of it sounded painful.

When they turned left it was to enter a large kitchen with an area that held a large wooden table. The area was filled with natural light floating in from the large windows and a door with a small window in it. Willow went directly to the door and opened it only to reveal a man about to enter. He was about Dean's height, medium build, dark brown hair, and there was a large and wicked scar running over his left eye. The man looked to be about the same age as Willow. He looked at the guys and frowned slightly.

"Xan, this is Sam and Dean Winchester."

The man nodded and his face relaxed. "Nice to meet you. I'm Xander Harris." He told them and turned his attention to Willow. "I've gotten all of the windows reinforced. You'll just need to do that voodoo that you do so well." Xander made to move past the group.

"Thanks Xander, by the way Kennedy found out you ate the krispies."

"Right, as if I don't know you told her...traitor." This brought a smile to the man's face. "Wonder what she'll threaten to do to me this time."

Willow shrugged and led the two men out onto the back porch. "Giles and Mr. Singer are just over there." She told them and pointed to a barn area. Now both Sam and Dean could see Bobby talking to another man. Willow walked with them.

When they got closer to the two men Sam took a moment to look at the man Bobby was talking to. He was tall with brown hair turning to gray at the sides. He wore wire rimmed glasses, brown slacks, a button down shirt and a tweed jacket. He looked like one of Sam's professors from college.

"Good to see you boys." Bobby acknowledged as they approached. "Boys, this here is Rupert Giles, Mr. Giles, this here is Sam and Dean Winchester."

When the man spoke Sam was slightly surprised to hear the english accent. "Please Robert, I told you, call me Giles. The same for you gentlemen. Hopefully we'll be working together, so there's no reason for formalities. I'm hoping we can all be friends."

"I guess I have to say I'm pretty surprised that you all are willing to work with us." Dean told the man. "Not many hunters are."

When Giles looked at Dean with confusion apparent on his face Sam explained. "Since we're the ones who opened up the door to Hell and let all the demons out not many other hunters want anything to do with us, let alone work with us."

Giles smiled slightly. "Well, I guess you could say we aren't your normal group of hunters." Willow smiled widely at this statement.

"Oh yeah, what makes you say that?" Dean asked with suspicion evident in his voice.

"Dean..." Bobby started.

Giles put his hand on Bobby's shoulder. "Don't worry yourself Robert. The young man has every right to question what's happening now. As I'm sure my people will want to ask questions as well. Perhaps we could hold off on explanations until tomorrow? I wouldn't ask normally, but two of my hunters are on their way back from a mission and were sidetracked in D.C. They should be here by tomorrow." Giles explained. "There is plenty of room in the house for everyone. And Kennedy and Dawn are making dinner for everyone this evening. Will you stay?"

"That would be great." Sam actually found himself looking forward to a night of a homecooked meal and a bed that wasn't in a hotel room. Dean only nodded.

"Wonderful! Let's all head inside shall we?" Giles smiled.

It was Willow who showed them upstairs to their rooms. The two were right next door to each other. "They share a bathroom." the girl explained. The halls were lined with doors. "Giles and Bobby are in the two rooms downstairs. Kennedy and I are in the room right across the hall from you, Xander is next to us, and then the others are down the hall on the other side." She told them pointing to the different doors. "We'll be eating in about half an hour if you wanted to take a few minutes to clean up or rest or whatever. If you need anything let me know. I did put some towels in the bathroom for you. Otherwise if you get bored there is a television downstairs and the barn is set up as a training facility."

"Thanks." Sam smiled.

Willow returned the smile. "Well, it's no problem. Sorry about how we met earlier, you just can't be too careful these days you know?"

"How'd you do it?" Dean asked.

"Oh, I'm a witch. Only with the good magic these days though." Willow assured them. "Anyways, I'd better get back to my research. I'll see you guys later."

Each man entered their respective room and looked around. Nothing fancy, but it was clean and comfortable. Each room held a queen sized bed, a chest of drawers, a small closet, and a door that led to a shared bathroom. Dean leaned against the frame of the bathroom door leading into Sam's room. "We're not in Kansas anymore Toto."

Sam sat on the edge of the bed. "You aren't kidding. Willow wields some pretty powerful magic. There was some kind of power vibe coming off of the Kennedy girl, and the Dawn girl, and it looks like that Xander guy had a run in with a chain saw to the face."

"Did you notice his eyes were two different colors? And there are two more hunters coming." Dean murmured; then he grinned. "Is it just me or are Willow and Kennedy an item?"

Sam rolled his eyes. "Dean, go take a nap or something."

"I'm just saying..."

-----

Dean knocked on the bathroom door leading into Sam's room and heard a muffled 'I'll be down in a minute'. "I'm heading downstairs Sammy." He opened his door and entered the quiet hallway. Shrugging slightly he went down the stairs and entered the living room where the television was on cartoons. The teenage girl, Dawn, was sitting cross legged on the floor and writing something. She looked up a bit startled when he entered. "Sorry."

"Oh, no problem." she smiled. "Guess I'm just not used to having anyone other than the Scoobies around yet."

"Scoobies? I've heard that twice now. What is it?"

"Is it like Scooby Doo?" Sam asked joining the two.

"Exactly." Dawn's smile widened. "There are the slayers, and then there are the Scoobies. The slayers fight the big bad evils and we do the research on the best way to fight the big bad evils. You know, the Scooby gang was always investigating and researching?"

"That's a pretty appropriate name then huh?" Dean smiled.

"I always thought so. I mean, it was around way before I was, but still...coolness." she agreed. "I mean, don't get me wrong, we fight too. We all fought against the First." Dawn's tone became solemn. "We lost a lot of people in that fight. But we won."

"So who make up the Scoobies?" Dean asked wanting to take the sad look off the girl's face.

"Well, the original Scoobies were Willow, Xander, and Cordelia. Cordelia is dead now. Oz was a Scoobie, but then he became a werewolf and went off to meditate. Then Tara was a Scoobie, but she was shot and killed. That was horrible. Then it was Willow, Xander, me, Anya, Spike, and Andrew. Anya and Spike died during the battle, and Andrew left us a few months ago and moved to Los Angeles with some of our allies."

"What about Giles?" Sam asked. "And the girl, Kennedy?"

"Well Giles is a Watcher. I mean, I guess we always considered him a Scoobie, because he helps research, but he's more of an advisor to the slayers really. I mean, he's like THE Watcher now. And Kennedy is a slayer, but she doesn't have as much experience. Although, she was left here as extra protection."

Dean couldn't help but continue smiling. This kid was telling them everything. It sure did make things more understandable. He still didn't know what the hell a slayer was, but hell, could he complain at having a houseful of researchers, and more hunters willing to work together? Nope. "So, how'd you get involved with all this?"

"You mean besides growing up in Sunnydale?" now she smirked slightly. "On top of the hellmouth? It's a long story actually. The short and easy version is my sister is a slayer."

Dean was about to ask another question when a loud voice rang out, "Dinner!"

They made their way to the kitchen to find everyone else already there. Willow motioned them to two empty chairs. Giles and Bobby already seemed to be in the middle of a conversation as Kennedy began to pass food around the table.

"Everything smells and looks wonderful." Sam murmured as he sat down.

Kennedy smiled. "Thanks. Couldn't have done it without Dawny."

Once everyone was seated conversations stopped and everyone except for Bobby and the Winchesters looked at Willow expectantly. Willow lifted her hands and looked skyward. "Oh Goddess, bless this meal and all who partake in it. Bless our new friends Sam, Dean, and Bobby, and bless our family and allies who continue to fight. Goddess, I beg thee to bring our family home safely."

"That was lovely Willow." Giles spoke softly.

"Thanks." the redhead seemed pleased.

Then there was no more silence as it seemed that everyone began to speak at the same time. It seemed that this group had a lot to say and no qualms about speaking over each other. There was a lot of good natured teasing, and Sam and Dean could only watch in silence as they ate the delicious food and tried to keep track of who was saying what.

Suddenly it seemed that all eyes were on them. "Are your rooms okay?" Kennedy asked.

"Oh, they're great." Sam assured her.

"Much better than what we're used to." Dean added.

"Good." Willow said with a sigh. "If you need anything, or anything goes wrong all you have to do is let us know."

Xander finally spoke. "Yeah, let me know if anything needs work. One of the windows was sticking slightly, but I think I got it fixed."

"Xander's our resident carpenter and stake maker." Dawn sounded proud.

"I just try to help however I can." he said and looked down at his plate as he blushed a bit.

"He's too modest." Willow shared. "Xander is the main reason the training facility is as good as it is."

Dinner continued in a friendly camaraderie, and the brothers didn't ask the questions that were flying around their minds as they remembered that Giles had said they would find out everything the next day. As it approached eleven o'clock everyone headed to their separate rooms to get some needed rest.

Dean had just started to lay down when he heard a creak. He moved softly to the door and opened it to already find Sam peering out of his own door. "You hear that?" Dean asked and Sam nodded. The brothers heard two more creaks but it didn't seem like anyone else was coming out of their rooms. Sam held up his flask of holy water and Dean nodded. They made their way slowly down the stairs. The noise was coming from the kitchen, and now they could hear more rustling. Sam peered around the corner and saw that both Giles door and Bobby's door were still closed. Dean motioned to Sam and the brunette man nodded. Dean leaned his head in slightly only to see a dark figure slinking stealthily through the kitchen.

The blonde man rushed the figure, but the figure had good reflexes and kicked him as he reached it. He let out a loud "Oof!" and the figure slammed an arm out knocking Dean into the wall. Dean felt like he'd been hit by a ton of bricks. The figure dropped the two bags it was carrying and started to move towards Dean. Sam hurried forward and threw the holy water on the person.

"What the fuck!" the figure cried out, but not in pain. Dean rose again but this time the figure dropped into a spinning kick knocking him out the open kitchen door and out onto the porch. "B we got company!" The figure yelled.

Sam dodged and threw on the kitchen light. The figure, a brunette girl dressed in a thick black coat, black leggings, and black boots, looked at him through the glare of the lights. "You're not burning." he muttered as she wiped the water from her face. She was a stunningly lovely, yet very pissed off brunette.

"No shit Sherlock. I don't melt when water hits me." she snapped and moved towards him with fists raised.

"Wait!" he spoke quickly. "I'm Sam Winchester." Sam had a feeling they'd just made an error.

Dean flew out the door and hit the railing behind him. "Son of a Bitch." he groaned and caught his breath. He turned suddenly as he realized he wasn't alone and was shocked as a petite blonde girl came slamming into him. Her hit pushed him through the back railing and he crumpled to the ground. It looked as if she was coming for more when Sam and the first figure rushed to the door.

"B wait!" the first figure, Dean could see it was a girl, yelled out.

"Dean!" Sam moved quickly to his brother's side.

The lights in the house were all coming on and people were now pouring out of the house.

"You're home!" Dawn squealed and rushed to the blonde girl.

"What the hell is going on?" the blonde snapped.

"Oh dear," Giles murmured sleepily. "It seems there's been a terrible misunderstanding."


	2. Chapter 2

**2. Good Witch...Bad Witch?**

"Giles!" Buffy was astonished to see her mentor. He hadn't told her he was coming back to join them. What did this mean? "You didn't tell us you were coming!" The blonde disengaged her enthusiastic sister, who then moved on to hug Faith. Buffy hugged Giles. It felt like ages since she'd seen the man she'd always thought of as a father.

"It was a spontaneous decision." He told her as he hugged her back. "I see you've met the Winchester brothers?"

Sam was helping Dean to stand. Dean couldn't believe the little girl in front of him, a girl he was almost a foot taller than, had knocked him on his ass. "Are you okay?" Sam asked him.

"Fine." He grunted and worked on breathing through his bruised ribs. "We heard noises and went to investigate..."

"What happened?" Willow seemed worried.

"Sweetie," Kennedy began as an idea entered her head. "Did you tell the guys that you warded the doors so none of the bad guys could get in?"

Realization sunk in and Willow winced. "No. Oh my goodness, I completely forgot!"

"Warded the doors?" Dean murmured.

"Yeah, we ward the doors so that we can go in and out, and our people can, but if something, or someone were to attack, they couldn't get through with out setting off major alarms." She explained. "That was my bad completely."

Bobby Singer had started chuckling. Giles looked over at the man. "Buffy, Faith, this is Bobby Singer. He's been a hunter for a very long time. He's the one who introduced us to the Winchesters. Gentlemen, this is Buffy Summers," he motioned to the blonde, "And Faith Lehane." He added pointing to the brunette. "They're both Slayers."

"Yeah, about that, could someone explain what exactly a Slayer is?" Sam finally asked.

"Certainly, seeing as we all seem to be awake, why don't we adjourn to the kitchen and we'll talk for a while." Giles said ever so calmly. "Would anyone like a cup of tea?"

It didn't take long for everyone to find a seat. Kennedy had found the two bags of groceries Faith had been bringing in and set about putting them away. Giles cleared his throat, "A Slayer is, and has always been, a young female who is given powers and abilities originating from the heart of a pure demon. It gives her superhuman senses; strength, agility, speed, endurance, accelerated healing. She is also bestowed with prophetic dreams. All of these abilities are given to the girl so that she is aided in the fight against forces of evil."

"There's always been a Slayer line. One slayer passes the abilities down. Only one slayer lives at a time." Buffy added.

"Then how are there two," Sam began and then looked at Kennedy, "wait, three of you?"

"Simple really." Buffy gave him a half smile. "I died. The first time I died it was only for a minute, but another was called. Kendra found us. She died, and when she died Faith was called."

"There are more than three." Willow blurted out. "Last year I came up with a spell to call all potential slayers to Sunnydale. The First was coming, and we had to have an army. They came, or any many that lived to make it came, and during the battle I cast a spell to imbue all of the potentials with the gifts of the slayer line."

"So, you're telling me there are a bunch of women running around out there with these...abilities?" Dean asked.

"That's pretty much what they're saying Swift. Although not as many as there were before the fight." Faith smirked from where she leaned against the kitchen island. "But none as old as me or B. I guess you could say we're the old ladies of the bunch."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked curiously.

Buffy shrugged. "Most slayers don't have a long life. When you hunt like we do; fight as many evil guys as we do, eventually something gets you."

"Most of the potentials that came to help against the First died that day at the hellmouth." Faith added.

"So, besides this slayer thing, what else is different?" Dean asked looking at Giles. "When we told you earlier that most groups wouldn't hunt with us you said yall weren't like other hunters."

"I said that because you thought no one would hunt with you because you opened the gates of hell and let evil out." Giles told the man. "That's mostly because they see you as the cause of a great problem. We don't."

"Why?" Dean was blunt.

"Dean..."

"No Sammy, you know that everyone else treats us like lepers, why are these people so different?"

"Gee, and you'd think the boy would just be happy to have some help." Faith sniped.

"First off sweetheart, I'm not a boy I'm a man. Secondly, sure we're glad to have help, but we also want an explanation."

"Fair enough." Buffy interrupted to two before Faith could respond. "I guess we don't blame you for letting the demons loose. Not one of us can cast a stone at you for it. We've all screwed up and in doing so we've screwed up the way the world worked."

"So, you know our big bad blunder, how about yours?" Dean challenged.

Buffy met his eyes. "I'm sure there are a lot more blunders in your world than just that one."

"I'll start." Willow broke in nervously.

"Will..." Xander began protectively.

"No Xander, we want them to trust us, and if they're going to trust us then we need to be honest." Willow was straightforward. Kennedy had moved until she stood behind the redhead. "I almost ended the world."

The words were simple. "What?" Sam was almost speechless. Sure the woman had frozen them in place, but she seemed far too sweet, and dare he think, dizzy, to almost end the world. It did make some of her comments seem less odd though.

"I'd been dating this guy, Oz, for a while. He got bit by a werewolf. Stuff happened and he couldn't handle it so he left. I was crushed…then I met Tara. She was…so special." Willow's face had turned both dreamy and sad. "I fell in love. She also practiced witchcraft. She was one of the gang. Three guys we went to high school with decided they wanted to play super-villain, and they began to build strange high tech gadgets. They called themselves the Trio. Buffy beat them back every time. Tara and I had our problems. We broke up because I did some really stupid things." Tears had begun to leak from Willow's eyes down her cheeks. "We got back together, and it was amazing. I thought we'd be together forever. Warren, one of the Trio, lost his mind. Couldn't take losing to Buffy anymore. He came to Buffy's house to shoot her. Instead the gun went off killing Tara…I lost control. I did some really horrible things." Now Willow sobbed openly and Kennedy wrapped her arms around the redhead tightly. "Oh Goddess the things I did…"

"Will couldn't handle it." Xander offered. "So much anger, pain, hate...she let it consume her, and she almost destroyed the world with it."

"You talked me down Xan. My bestest friend."

"Always Wills, always."

"I went to England for a while after that to study with some Wiccans. Tried to get rid of the dark influences." Willow wiped the tears from her face.

"Look, I know you want everyone's story, and we want to hear yours, but Faith and I are tired. We were in DC yesterday killing demons. All I want to do is take a shower and go to bed." Buffy murmured tiredly. "I say we call it a night and start again tomorrow."

"Sounds smart." Sam agreed.

Everyone started to stand up and leave the room. "Hey Swift." Faith called out and Dean turned to glower at her. She tossed something and he automatically reached up and caught what turned out to be an ice pack. "Might need that." She smirked.


	3. Chapter 3

**3. False Impressions**

When Sam awoke it was just past seven in the morning. The sun was starting to shine, and he could feel the slight chill emanating from the window. Not too cold seeing as it was South Carolina, but not hot either. He dressed quickly and took a look outside of the window to see if anything was happening. He could faintly hear sounds of combat coming from the barn where Willow had said training facilities were set up.

Sam took the stairs two at a time and headed for the kitchen. He could smell bacon frying and it made his stomach grumble. Upon entering the kitchen he found Xander at the table eating and reading a newspaper. Dawn stood over at the stove cooking. "Good morning." he murmured.

Dawn smiled brightly. "Hi Sam, how'd you sleep?"

"Good."

"Would you like some pancakes and bacon?" she asked.

"Oh, you don't have to go to any trouble..."

She interrupted. "No trouble at all. I enjoy cooking, and it would only take a few minutes."

"If you're sure...that would be great." Sam sat down at the table and Xander pushed some of the paper towards him. "Thanks." Then he turned and looked at Dawn. "If you don't mind my asking Dawn, what do you do about school?"

Dawn was already moving to put a plate in front of him. "I take correspondence courses on line."

"You can do that with high school?" he asked with some confusion.

Xander snorted and Dawn's eyes narrowed. "I'm going to be twenty next month Sam. I'm done with high school."

Sam looked at the girl blankly for a moment, "Oh! I'm sorry. You just look so young."

Xander was still snickering and Dawn smacked him across the back of the head. "I get it all the time. Don't worry about it." she murmured.

Feeling uncomfortable now Sam began to eat in earnest. "So, ah, what's everyone up to today?"

Obviously deciding to forgive him for his unintentional blunder Dawn smiled again. "Well, Faith is still snoozing, Willow is on an overseas call with someone from the England coven, and Giles and Mr. Singer are out in the barn watching Buffy and Kennedy spar." she informed him. "I figured I'd clean up in here. Get Faith and Dean some breakfast if they wake up in time, and then I have some more research I need to do for the Globe of Exorcism that Willow and I are working on."

"Globe of Exorcism?"

"Yeah, that's what we're calling them right now. Unless we can come up with something cooler."

Sam met Xander's gaze. The other man just shrugged. "I don't do the whole magic thing." he informed the youngest Winchester brother. "I fix things, and can look through a book for stuff on occasion."

Sam smiled. He finished his food and before he could move to take his dishes to the sink Dawn was swooping in to grab it. "Go on now, why don't you go check out the sparring?" the girl told him.

Deciding to do just that Sam stood and headed out to the barn.

&&&

Buffy and Kennedy circled each other in the large area that had been set up for sparring. While Buffy moved with confidence and an air of non-concern, Kennedy moved warily keeping both eyes on her opponent. Giles and Bobby were leaning on a railing that enclosed the circle. Sam joined them but didn't make a sound.

"Come on Kennedy. You're brilliant with a sword, brilliant with ranged weapons, but when comes to hand to hand you fight like a girl." Buffy taunted.

"I am a girl." The brunette taunted.

"No, you're more than a girl." Buffy's tone was harsh. "You're a Slayer." Kennedy swung a fist, but Buffy was fast and she ducked it easily. "I read that coming a mile away little girl. "Come on. Pick up your game! You're one of the best. If something happens to me and Faith it's up to you."

"Nothing's going to happen to either of you." Kennedy panted. "You're both too mean to die." She launched a spinning kick at Buffy's midsection, but again the blonde moved; this time dropping into a low kick which hit Kennedy in the calves and tripped the younger girl.

Kennedy rolled with the fall and lashed out with her left forearm almost catching Buffy in the lower back. The hit lacked power and Buffy spun knocking the arm away. Kennedy was already up on her feet and springing at the other girl. She managed to wrap her right arm around Buffy's neck getting the shorter girl in a chokehold. Buffy pushed forward flinging Kennedy over her head and onto the ground. The brunette hit the ground with an "oof" as the air was knocked out of her. Sam could barely follow the movements as Buffy continued her forward movement flipping over the other girl. Suddenly Buffy was straddling Kennedy with a stake to the other girl's throat.

Buffy grinned at the other girl who looked slightly embarrassed. The blonde stood gracefully and helped Kennedy to her feet. "You're getting better."

"I still ended up on my ass."

"Yeah, but how many years do I have on you?" Buffy was matter of fact. "And honestly I didn't see the chokehold coming."

"Really?" now Kennedy seemed pleased.

"Promise."

"That was amazing." Sam told the two girls as they drew closer. "You are both really good."

"Want to give it a whirl?" Buffy asked the tall man.

"Um…sure?" Sam felt sort of uncomfortable at the thought of throwing the petite girl around. He was over a foot taller than she was.

"Come on in." she invited with a half smile. Buffy could practically read the man's thoughts. He was scared of hurting little old her. How cute. "Take a few minutes to stretch out."

Sam ducked under the railing and took off his jacket leaving him in jeans, boots, and a sweatshirt. Buffy wore spandex leggings, tennis shoes, and a black sports bra. He did as she suggested and stretched for a bit. In that time Faith and Dean had made their way to the railing to watch. Dean was shaking his head.

"That's not exactly fair Sammy." Dean chided. His brother was a lot bigger than Buffy.

"Don't worry." Faith smirked. "B won't hurt him too bad."

Dean looked at the cocky Slayer with his own smirk. "I was worried about your friend, not my brother."

"Aw, that's sweet." She told him and then turned her attention to the two combatants.

This time there was no verbal sparring between the two in the middle of the ring. Buffy took mental notes on how the youngest Winchester brother moved and his different mannerisms. He telegraphed his first move and as he rushed her she slammed out her arm effectively clothes lining him. Sam wasn't expecting the hit, or the force of the impact and he went flying backwards and down hitting the hard ground heavily.

For a moment he was dazed and he could only lay there staring at the ceiling of the barn.

"Sammy!" Dean shouted and moved over to his still brother. "You okay?"

"She's got quite the hit." Sam murmured.

"Yeah, you ain't kidding." Dean smiled in relief.

Buffy and Faith had come over and were leaning down looking at the two men. Buffy was frowning and concerned. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I was just not expecting you to be so….strong." he mumbled.

"I'm so sorry; I thought I was pulling my punch enough." She kept looking between the brothers.

Sam sat up with Dean's help. "That was your pulled punch?"

"Hello? Slayer…I'm really strong…remember?"

"Right…right, guess I didn't expect it to be that strong."

"I think perhaps this would be a good time to take a short break?" Giles broke into the conversation.

Faith pulled Sam to his feet. "Come on big guy, let's go walk it off and get you a drink or something."

Sam, still a bit dazed, let the brunette lead him away.

"I'm so sorry." Buffy apologized to Dean.

Dean was chuckling. "Hey, I felt it last night, only fair Sammy gets some too."

Buffy smiled up at the man. "Sounds like an older sibling speaking."

The group had begun to walk back to the house. "Yeah, I wouldn't want anything seriously bad to happen to him. He's all I got, but a little knock around won't kill him."

"I know what you mean there…Sorry about our meeting last night. That got out of hand real quick and could've gotten ugly."

"This is all so new to us."

"The witchcraft thing?" she asked and he nodded in response. "Yeah, it's new to most people. But it sure does help. Willow's bailed our asses out of trouble more than once or twice." They reached the door and found everyone had moved in to sit at the large round dining table. "Looks like it's story time again." She sighed quietly.


	4. Chapter 4

**4. It Takes All Kinds**

"I guess I'd like to go next." Dawn stated once everyone was sitting down.

"No offense sweetheart," Dean began, "But what could you have possibly done to almost destroy the world?"

Dawn smiled wryly and looked out the kitchen window. "It's not what I did, it's what I am."

"What you were." Buffy corrected.

"Fine, what I was." Dawn smiled at her sister. "I wasn't born, well, not like you were. Not like normal human beings are." She looked back at the table. "I was formed. Once there was a mystical orb of living energy, and it was a key. This key could open any portal to any dimension. There was this hell-god, Glorificus. She was a true force of darkness. She tracked down this living energy to a group of holy men, the Monks of Dagon. They wanted to protect this key. They wanted to make sure it was used for good. These monks transformed this key into a fourteen year old human girl and put her in the one place where she'd be safest…the Slayer's family. They used the blood of the Slayer to create the girl. They implanted memories in the Slayer, her family, and all of her friends; memories of a little sister. The monks gave those memories to the girl as well." Dawn looked around the table at all of the silent faces. It was easier now to tell this story, easier now that she knew that she would always be Buffy's sister. "Glory found out that the key had been taken to Sunnydale. She went there to find it. See, Glory wanted the key to open a portal to unleash all of the hell-gods onto Earth. She found a Demon Wizard to help her, and eventually she found out who the key was. They took me to the top of a metal tower and cut me. My blood opened the portal and hell began to move towards it. I knew that my blood would be the only thing that could close it. I was going to jump, but Buffy knocked me aside. She knocked me aside and sacrificed herself to shut the portal."

"They'd made her from my blood." Buffy murmured. "My blood worked just as good as hers. I jumped and she lived, and that was the most important thing ever to me."

"So how is it you didn't die?" Sam asked.

"I did."

"We thought she'd gone to Hell." Willow began. "Because she'd closed the hell portal we thought that when she jumped and died she'd ended up in hell. So we did spell and we were able to bring her back. It was stupid and selfish of us." Willow sniffled.

"Wills," Buffy grabbed the redhead's hand. "It was a long time ago. I don't even think about it anymore. I don't hold anything against you. I'm glad I'm here."

"You were in heaven." The other girl murmured. "You were in heaven and we ripped you out."

"Stop." Buffy told the girl. She looked at the Winchester brothers. "Do we need to keep sharing or can you understand that we've all been in hard spots and made poor choices from time to time?"

"I dated a vengeance demon." Xander piped in drawing shocked gazes from the two men. "I mean, she wasn't a vengeance demon at the time, but she had been and I'd known. Hell, I helped stop her. Then I broke her heart and she went back to being a vengeance demon. Killed a lot of people."

"You dated someone possessed?" Dean asked.

"There are many types of demons Dean." Giles said. "There are the kind that possess humans, there are the kind that were humans and went on to take up the mission of demon work, and then there are the ones that look human, but aren't. There are also some that in no way look human whatsoever, but it's rare to run into one of them out on the streets. They hide well."

"What did you do?" Dean asked Kennedy.

"Me?" she asked in the middle of taking a bite of a cookie. "Nothin', I'm just a spoiled rich kid."

Willow patted her hand. "She joined us late in the fight."

"You looking at me next Swift?" Faith said eyeing Dean.

"Faith…"

"No B, no worries, Swift here wants to know all the low down." Faith's attitude was short.

"Yeah, I do." He told her bluntly. "You know about us, why can't we know about you?"

"Might not like what you find out." She smiled bitterly. "I'll give….I killed people. Just people. No demons, no monsters, no evil bad guys…And I tortured someone. I tortured him brutally." Faith leaned forward. "I'm the worst of this bunch. Spent time in a maximum security prison."

"What changed you?" Sam asked softly.

"Someone decided to help save my soul. I guess you could call him my Guardian Angel." She murmured meeting Buffy's eyes.

Buffy smiled sweetly at Faith. "I would."


	5. Chapter 5

**5. Road Trip**

"Faith's not telling the complete truth." Buffy added. When Faith would speak again Buffy held up a hand. "She killed a lot of bad evil nasties. Sure she made mistakes. Horrible mistakes, but she also did a lot of good. And she atoned for any sin she might have committed in the past."

"Still atoning B, still atoning."

"And what about you?" Dean asked. "The oldest living Slayer, what did you do that would destroy the world?"

Buffy smiled faintly and met Dean's eyes. "There are so many times I screwed up. Isn't that the point? We don't judge you because whatever happened, whatever either of you did, they were mistakes. You sold your soul to save your brother's life. I've sacrificed someone I loved to save the world. I've unleashed pure evil on the world in satisfying my own desires. I've run away from my destiny and in doing so cost people their lives." Buffy stood up. "Not one person at this table can say they haven't done something out of purely selfish motives. So no Dean, I don't care that you opened the Gates of Hell and let hundreds, or thousands of demons out. My job isn't condemn you, my job is to send them back to Hell." Buffy looked at each person at the table. "Story time is over. We've got problems brewing in Newburg Tennessee. We hit the road in three hours. I would suggest everyone going get packed up and loaded up."

"I'm taking my car." Dean told her.

Buffy turned back and looked at him. "Groovy."

&&&

The group going to Tennessee was Sam, Dean, Buffy, and Faith. The others would stay behind and do research from the farmhouse. As Dean and Sam loaded up the Impala they noticed Faith and Buffy loading up a bright orange Spitfire. "We'll lead." Faith told them before slipping into the driver's seat.

"Blah blah blah." Dean muttered as he waved to Bobby. They'd been on the road for a few minutes when he glanced at Sam. "So what'd ya think?"

"About?" Sam asked as he perused the internet.

Dean felt like smacking his brother upside the head. "That group?"

Sam looked up and out the window. "Honestly?"

"Yeah, honestly."

"I think they're far beyond us in experience. I think we're lucky to have them on our side, and I'm glad they're willing to work with us."

"They all seem a little nuts to me." Dean muttered.

"Oh, because we're so normal?" Sam snorted.

"All I'm sayin' is the girl isn't even human, Faith is a murderer, and that Buffy broad is way too bossy."

"You're just pissed because she's got your number." Sam told his brother. "You would have kept questioning them and questioning them and she'd had enough."

"Who put her in charge?" Dean groused.

Sam shrugged. "I just think that she's used to being in charge. She's had to for a while. All of those people look to her for answers. As for Dawn, well, she's just as human as I am, and Faith...well, I guess I can't argue the fact that she's a murderer since she's the one who told us she was, but at least she's turned to the light side...she helped close a hell mouth. And I don't really think any of those people would be putting up with her if she wasn't good now, right?"

"Whatever." Dean muttered. He didn't want to admit his brother had good points. He'd seen the pain in the brunette girl's eyes when she'd talked of being a killer. She'd tried to use attitude to come off as unmoved, but he'd seen past it. "That Willow is the freakiest one of them."

"Okay, yeah, I can't really argue that one." Sam admitted. "Anyone who can freeze someone in place, then worry about if they're Jehovah's witnesses...well, that's a little loopy."

"Sweet girl, but seriously ditzy."

&&&

"What do you think they're talking about back there?" Faith asked as she looked in her rearview mirror.

Buffy was currently reading a magazine. "Probably bitching about the blonde who's ordering them around."

Faith snickered. "Better get used to that."

"I just didn't see the need to sit there and continue rehashing painful memories for all of us. They'll hear the stories eventually if they continue working with us." Buffy sighed. "Besides that Dean was pissing me off. Acting like we owed him the information."

Faith shrugged. "All guys are like that B. They all think something is owed to them." Her mouth twisted wryly.

"Sorry."

"What're ya sorry for?"

"I know you're thinking of Rob..."

"No, don't say the name." Faith broke in. "I'm fine. And as far as HE is concerned...well, he got what he wanted in the end didn't he? So everything is five by five."

&&&

It took six hours to reach the small town of Newburg Tennessee. The Impala followed the Spitfire into the parking lot of a five story hotel that looked picturesque on the outside. The four headed inside and Buffy approached the front desk. "Hello?"

The woman behind the counter smiled brightly. She appeared to be in her late thirties with coffee colored skin and black straight hair. "How yall doin' today?"

"We're good thank you." Buffy returned the woman's smile. "We have a reservation for the penthouse suite." Dean looked at Sam and mouthed 'penthouse suite' to him.

"Ms. Summers?"

"That's right." Buffy took a credit card out of her wallet and the woman scanned it.

"Of course Ma'am, that room is ready for you and your guests, here are the four keys that were requested. If you'll go right behind the spiral staircase you'll find the elevator and it will take you to the fifth floor."

The four hunters made their way to the elevator with their bags and rose silently to the top floor. Buffy spoke as she ran the card through the slot to open the door. "Two bedrooms with two double beds in each. Two bathrooms. Small living area, kitchenette, and office. We should be here for at least a week so I got the best room I could so that we would have what we needed."

"A week? Why is it gonna take so long?" Dean asked with confusion apparent on his face.

"Because we have to wait for the full moon." Faith told him. "And that's five days away."


	6. Chapter 6

**6. Demons and Dinner**

"What?" Dean almost yelled. "What do you mean we have to wait for the full moon? Why can't we take care of it now?"

Faith and Buffy had headed into one of the rooms and were unpacking their duffle bags. Neither seemed inclined to answer.

"Hello? Am I talking to myself?"

Buffy sighed. "Look. This gives us time to find where the ritual is going to take place. We find the place, identify the players, and take care of the problem."

"Yeah, and in the mean time we're stuck in nowhere Tennessee." Dean snapped.

"You could always go back to working alone." Faith offered with a roll of her eyes.

Dean's mouth snapped shut. Sam ran a hand through his hair and headed for the other bedroom to put away his clothing. "What exactly is supposed to be happening here anyway?" He called out, making sure his voice could be heard in the other room.

"Faith and I found a low level demon in Detroit a few days ago after we dusted some vamps. Once we got him talking he told us that there was going to be a very important ritual held in this city on the next full moon, five days from now. There are going to be six demons involved and they're calling a high level demon into power. Supposedly, this high power demon is one that likes to hold onto to contracts for souls. We take out the six summoners, and the high level demon, and we save some souls." Buffy's tone sounded as if she was planning a dinner party.

"And we get the chance to question Mr. Powerful about other high power demons." Faith added as she flopped down onto the couch and turned on the television.

Sam was keenly interested now and he entered the room and took a seat. "Is it possible this is the demon who holds Dean's contract?"

Faith met his eyes. "Possible, but even if he isn't, he'll possibly be able to tell us who does."

"Sam..."

"Dean, I don't want to hear it; If I can I'm getting you out of that contract." Sam snapped.

Dean looked angry. Buffy broke into the conversation before it could go any farther. "Either way we're doing it. Seven less demons in the world sound good to me." Buffy headed into the kitchenette and opened the fridge. "Oh, excellent." she murmured and grabbed a soda. "The six summoners call themselves the Culling."

"The Culling?" Sam murmured.

"Nasty bastards." Faith sneered. "Supposedly the name of their guy their calling is Balberith."

"That sounds familiar." Dean finally spoke without attitude.

Buffy took a seat at the small dining table. "Wills did some research and it turns out that Balberith along with a few others were instrumental in the fall of man from Eden."

"You got all of this information from a demon?" Sam asked.

Faith looked at him. "You'd be surprised what those guys will tell you when they're afraid of you."

"What makes you think he was being honest?"

Faith just blinked at him. Buffy choked on her soda. "Guess we don't have proof." she said as she tried to catch her breath. "But we're pretty positive he was telling the truth. Low level demons are pretty dumb, and a lot of them think you'll let them live."

"Well, it doesn't help that you've let one or two live." Faith muttered.

"Hey, there was nothing wrong with letting Clem live. It's not like he hurts anything. He's harmless, and he's helped us on occasion."

"I guess."

"You know a demon named Clem?" Dean asked in disbelief.

"He's a benevolent demon."

"He eats kittens." Faith pointed out.

"Everyone's gotta eat!" Buffy protested. "And he doesn't do that in our presence, and he took care of Dawn for me."

"Yeah, I guess he did help train the potentials." Faith finally conceded.

"You people have some serious issues." Dean muttered. "Serious, psychological issues."

"I wouldn't talk if I were you Winchester." Faith raised an eyebrow.

"Why don't we all stop arguing and go get something to eat?" Sam suggested as he digested all of the information the girl's had been letting out.

"That actually sounds good." Buffy agreed. "Let's jet."

The four of them headed out of the room and down to the cars. "Let's just take the Impala." Dean offered. "That way we don't worry about two cars."

Faith shrugged. "Fine by me. Shot gun."

"Oh that figures." Buffy complained as she and Sam climbed into the backseat. "Although I'll point out that Sam is like a foot taller than you Faith."

She shrugged again. "Should've talked quicker then, shouldn't he?"

Dean snickered and started the car. It didn't take them long to find an Applebee's and they made their way inside. Surprisingly enough for a Friday night at seven o'clock it wasn't that busy and they were seated quickly. As they ate they talked quietly about different strategies they could use to find the six summoners. They finally decided they would start out at the local bar. It seemed that most demons did enjoy a good drink, so they thought it was as good as any place to start.


	7. Chapter 7

**7. Never say Nevers**

The kindest word Buffy could come up with for the bar was dive. It was in an ancient building that looked like it had been there since the beginning of the town, and Buffy was thinking that the bar, which went by the name of Nevers, had been open that long too. It was the only bar in town and was five minutes away from the hotel.

They entered through the door in the north corner of the bar and took a minute to look around. The bar was against the far south wall with the men's room to the west and the ladies room to the east. On the west side of the bar there was a line of seven pool tables and two dart boards. In the middle of the room there were various square and round tables, all of them appearing mismatched. To the east side was a small dance floor and a jukebox that was currently cranking out some twangy country crap.

"I feel like I've entered into the movie Deliverance." Faith murmured.

Dean's eyebrows shot up. "First banjo I hear or see I'm out of here." This drew a smile from his companions. "Sammy, why don't you go claim a table, and I'll go grab some beverages."

The four had decided in the car not to spend too much time together once inside the bar. Act as casual acquaintances only. Buffy and Faith chose a small round table to begin their observations. Looking at the girls they seemed as different as night and day. Faith wore faded jeans, and a black, spaghetti strapped tank top. Black biker boots encased her feet, and she wore a multitude of thin, black, rubber bracelets. Buffy on the other hand wore a fitted, white, button down top with little capped sleeves, flat front, black slacks, and black ankle boots. They both made an intriguing picture of naughty and nice without even realizing it.

A waitress approached them after several minutes. She wore a faded blue shirt that said Nevers across the front in white lettering, and an incredibly short denim skirt. Ragged sneakers adorned her feet, and the woman appeared to be in her mid to late thirties. She reeked of smoke and her voice was quite high pitched when she spoke in her southern twang. "What can I get you gals?"

"Ya got Leinies?" Faith asked.

"Yeah, we got some of that." The woman assured them.

"Two please."

The woman nodded and headed off to the bar.

Buffy leaned forward, "I say we give it a few minutes then head over to one of the other pool tables."

Faith nodded. "Sounds like a plan." So far there weren't many patrons in the bar. Besides the four hunters, two waitresses and a bartender, there were only six other people. Two men were at a pool table at the far end, two tables away from Sam and Dean, a man and woman at a table near the bar, and then two men sitting on bar stools. "We aren't lucky enough that our players are already here."

"No, I agree. Remember Zambrost said they had a tattoo marking them."

Faith grinned. "Shit, we forgot to tell the guys."

Buffy's mouth opened in an 'oh'. "I'm just not used to working with other people yet."

Faith just shrugged and continued to smile. "No worries, I'm sure we can figure out a way to get them the information." The waitress, whose nametag read Perla, brought their beers and Faith handed her a twenty dollar bill. "Can we get ten dollars in quarters?" she asked. Perla dug around in her apron and pulled a roll of quarters out. Faith gave the woman a smile, and when the waitress went to give her change from the other ten Faith shook her head. "Keep the change. "

"Mighty kind of ya Sugar." The waitress smiled and headed off.

"Yeah, cuz I'm all about the kindness."

Buffy took a drink of her beer and nodded, "Let's go play."

The two women made their way over to the table next to the Winchester brothers and began to play. People began to filter into the bar and by about nine thirty there were about thirty people in the bar. Three men, fairly goodlooking, were playing on the other side of Faith and Buffy, and though they hadn't spoken to the girls they'd certainly looked a few times. One of the men was shorter than the others and stood about 5'8"; the other two men were a little over 6'. All three were muscular and lean, and looked as though they kept in shape. The short man had sandy brown hair, and the other two were varying shades of blonde.

Sam and Dean continued to play, and while Sam drank slowly, Dean was on his third. They'd been looking everyone over on the off chance something shouted 'hey I'm a demon'. So far they had nothing though. Sam had met Buffy's eyes briefly when she and Faith had moved to the pool table next to them. Sam was wondering if Dean was going to hit on one of the Slayers. He wouldn't be surprised. Both girls were gorgeous; Faith with her dark hair and dark eyes, Buffy with her blonde hair and hazel eyes. When he looked close he could actually see the blue and green flecks swirling around…not that he looked very close or anything. He'd just happened to catch a glimpse once or twice.

"Your move Sammy." Dean announced and took the last swig of his beer. He frowned as he realized he'd have to switch to soda. They were working after all. Better to keep cautious. That's when he looked over and caught sight of Faith leaning over to take a shot. "Have mercy." He muttered. The girl certainly filled out her jeans well. Mouthy, but not as bossy as Blondie. Not that he thought Blondie was hard on the eyes either. And he had to admit he admired what they did.

Dean was broken from his thoughts as Buffy moved closer. "Could I borrow your chalk?" she asked him sweetly. He handed it to her blankly and waited while she worked on her cue. So softly that he almost had trouble hearing her, she whispered. "The members of the Culling all have tattoos on their inner wrists. It's a snake wrapped around a heart." She handed back the chalk.

"Nah, you keep it." He told her, and handed it back. Buffy smiled and moved away. Dean moved to his brother to pass along the information. Their attention was caught when two older men approached the Slayers.

"Well, hi there girlies."

Faith looked up and caught sight of a man in who appeared to be in his forties talking to them. He wore jeans, a plaid button down western shirt which was tucked in and strained over a beer belly, and cowboy boots. He currently had a toothpick in his mouth. His friend appeared to be in the same age range, but was super skinny, and sported a raggedy mustache and beard. Faith just raised an eyebrow.

Buffy looked at the two men and got majorly creeped out. Not because they were evil, hell she didn't know, but because they were creepy old men and they were coming to hit on her and Faith. As if. "Hi?" she tried to sound polite.

"I'm Frank, and this is my buddy Harve. We was wonderin if you two fine little ladies would like to dance?" the man seemed pleased with himself.

"Gee, sorry Frank. We're playing pool. Not dancing." Faith told the man with a false smile.

"But you gals is playing all alone. You need some men to play with." He and his friend laughed at the intended innuendo.

"You offerin?"

"I sure am." He told her pulled his pants up from where they sagged a bit.

Faith met Buffy's eyes. "Tell you what Frank. Let's make a bet. You and Harve there against me and my friend. You win we give you boys a dance. We win you leave us alone. Deal?" Buffy was already chalking her cue.

"Hope you got your dancing shoes on." He smirked.

"I hope you got your walkin boots on." Faith quipped and proceeded to break.


	8. Chapter 8

**8. Stepping In**

Faith's break automatically sunk two stripes and a solid. She proceeded to knock two more in before she missed. Frank smirked at her and proceeded to shoot. It looked like the man knew how to play. Buffy watched from an expressionless face as the man knocked two in and moved on to the third. She spared Faith a quick glance and saw the other girl watching unconcerned. Frank knocked two more in, but then scratched the cue ball. He looked up and Buffy caught a gleam of anger in his eyes.

"Your turn lil' gal." he murmured to Buffy.

Buffy blinked at him innocently and moved to her shot. She scanned the table and began. Buffy cleared their last three ball and then focused on the eightball. She didn't pay any attention to anything else around her as she remained intent on the last shot. She didn't see Frank and Harve's slack jawed shock, Dean and Sam's pleased smirks, or the boys at the table opposite watching in fascination. "Corner pocket." she said clearly and pointed at the pocket in question. She took her shot and was walking away from the table before the ball had even entered the pocket.

Frank and Harve stared at the two girls silently. "Best two outta three." Frank demanded.

Faith leaned on the table. "Oh, sorry, no can do Frank. The deal was one game. We won. Time for you to walk away."

Frank was getting mad. "And I said best two outta three. Ain't really fair if we don't do it that way." He leaned closer to Faith, who didn't shrink away. That made Frank angrier.

"Fair's sticking to the original deal. That's what you're getting." Buffy said evenly knowing that they were probably about to get into a bar fight.

"You ladies need any help?" Dean asked as he began to get worried.

"Nope, everything is five by five." Faith assured him.

"Ladies don't need no help boy." Frank glared at Dean. "We was about to play another game, wasn't we gal?"

Faith smirked. "Nope."

Frank moved to grab Faith's arm when the sandy-brown haired man from the table next to them moved forward. "Lady said she wasn't interested. Move along." he told Frank in his college-frat boy voice.

Harve looked to be getting nervous. He was moving from foot to foot. "Let's just go Frank." he mumbled nervously.

"You think you can take me college boy?" Frank spit out.

The man just stared back. Frank spit on the ground and throwing one last glare at the girls turned and left the pool table area. The brunette man turned to face Faith. He smiled at her and laughed, "Guess the locals don't like to take no for an answer."

Faith grinned. "Guess not. You're not a local?"

He looked at his two blonde friends. "Oh no, we're just in town for a few days. I'm Mark." He introduced himself and took her hand in his. "These are my brothers Luke and Paul."

"I'm Faith and this is Buffy." she told him continuing to smile. Buffy had joined them and more handshakes were exchanged.

"Where you all staying?" Luke asked.

"The B & B." Buffy answered. "We're just sort of travelling. We have to be down in Houston by the end of the month so we thought we'd take our time on the trip."

"We're staying at the RedBird Hotel." Mark offered. "Besides the B & B it's the nicest in town. What are yall heading to Houston for?"

"Our brother's wedding." Faith said. They'd come up with the story long before.

"That's funny. We're here because our mother is getting married in a few days. She's meeting her husband and his daughter here."

"Cool." Buffy smiled. "That must be exciting. Getting new family."

The men shared a look. "Guess so. It's definitely something we've been waiting for...well, I can honestly say we've been waiting a long time."

"Mark, it's getting late." Paul murmured.

Mark nodded. "We'd better be heading. Maybe we'll see you girls again while we're here?"

"Maybe." Faith said coyly.

The men left and the girls looked after them. Dean walked past them and leaned in just close enough to murmur, "We're going back to the hotel if you all are done picking up guys."

Faith snickered after him as he and Sam left the bar. She shook her head. "Seems like Winchester was jealous."

Buffy's eyebrows wrinkled. "Really? Does Faith have an admirer?" she teased.

Faith snorted. "Please, Winchester is totally into you."

The two girls began walking to the door. "Well too bad if that's the case." Buffy told her friend. "I'm not into Winchester...at least not that one." The last words seemed a bit confused so Faith spared her from any questions.

&&&

When they got back to the hotel the boys had taken seats on the opposite ends of the couch and Dean was flipping through the television channels while Sam booted up his laptop. "Well, that was a totally unproductive evening." Dean almost snarled. "I mean, besides you two almost getting into a bar fight with the redneck trucker boys."

"They started it." Buffy said logically. "Besides it wasn't a total waste. We did find some of the demons."

Dean and Sam's eyes flew to them. "Do tell?" Sam murmured.

"The three at the other table. Mark, Luke, and Paul. We saw the tattoos when they shook our hands." Faith told them as she rummaged through the fridge.

"And they told us how their mom, her soon to be husband, and his daughter are going to be here too. For a wedding."

Sam was nodding slightly. "Probably the ceremony to summon the demon."

"Not bad at all for the first night in town." Faith smirked at Dean who still looked a bit shocked.


	9. Chapter 9

**9. Recon**

"That was a pure luck find." Dean told them with a slight frown.

Faith shrugged. "Pure luck works for me Sparky. I'm not too picky of a girl. Anyways, that Matt guy…"

"Mark." Buffy corrected.

"Right whatever; He said they were staying at some RedBird Hotel."

"We passed that on the way into town." Sam remembered.

"Well, I was thinking we could go do some recon." Faith seemed to be cheering up at the thought of something to do. "We could wait for Matt and his brothers…"

"Mark." Dean corrected this time.

"Matt, Mark, Chuck, Bob…who cares…Maybe I should just refer to them as Bad Nasties?" Faith snapped. "Jeesh, you people are perfectionists. ANYWAY, I think we should go check it out."

"Is she always like that with names?" Dean sniped to Buffy.

"Oh, like you're any better." Sam rolled his eyes.

"Kids, no fighting." Buffy sighed and stood. "Faith's got a point. We should go check out the targets. See if we can get a visual of the mom."

Faith was looking at Buffy, "I swear you dated that military guy for far too long."

Buffy was already heading into the bedroom to change. "Riley? Please, that was years ago…"

"Yeah, but all the military talk…sort of creepy B." Faith gave an exaggerated shiver.

The Winchesters just watched the conversation with almost morbid fascination.

"Just remember," Buffy said sweetly. "You slept with that military boy."

"With your body!" Faith protested. "I'm not even sure that counts."

"It counts."

"What?" Dean was thoroughly confused. "How is that possible?"

"How does it count?" Faith ignored the blonde man. "You were sleeping with him anyway, so it isn't like I did something you wouldn't have done?"

"And I thought you were bad." Sam muttered to Dean as he continued to click away on his laptop.

"It's the principle of the thing Faith. You took my body. You did something with my body without my express knowledge or permission. Therefore, it counts." Buffy said as she came out of the bedroom pulling a black sweater over her head.

Dean looked at his brother. "What do you mean you thought I was bad!"

Sam looked over. "Oh come on, every town we go to you somehow find a way to hit on a woman…any woman."

"I'm far more selective than that." Dean was frowning now.

"Fine…it counts…whatever…I thought we were past all that?" Faith leaned back in her chair.

Sam snorted, "You're about as selective as a fat man at an all you can eat buffet."

"We are past all that." Buffy told her friend with a grin. "I was simply stating you can't hold my dating Riley against me since you slept with him. Are you both ready to go?" She asked the boys as she turned to them.

They stopped their bickering and looked up at her. "Sure?" Sam responded.

&&

They parked the car two blocks from the hotel and walked the rest of the way. Except for two or three cars the hotel looked practically deserted. Obviously it was not tourist season. Sam stayed at one end of the building to keep watch, and the other three slipped up the side towards the windows. About six feet from the first window, Buffy, who was in the lead stopped and pulled out a small pendant. She held it up in front of her and towards the windows. The pendant began to glow faintly, and Buffy smiled. She put the pendant around her neck and clasped Faith's hand, motioning for Faith to clasp Dean's hand. Once they were all linked up she began to move forward again. Crouching low, they passed three windows and finally came to the fourth. The outline of the window glowed faintly, similar to the pendant, and Buffy stopped. Staying linked they all kneeled beneath the window. Inside they could hear voices.

The voices weren't loud enough to make out entire conversations, but they could pick up words here and there. Not only could they hear the three male voices of the men they'd met at the bar earlier in the evening, but they also heard an extremely feminine voice. The woman's voice seemed simpering and needy. Faith made a choking motion with her face as if to show her disgust.

The voices got clearer as someone, or someones approached the window.

"Are you sure he'll come?" the woman asked in her wispy voice.

"He'll be here Mother." It was either Luke or Paul answered. "We've waited far too long for this as it is."

"I'm just so nervous. What if he doesn't like me?" the woman did sound jittery.

"How could you not like you Mother?" This voice was Mark. "You're perfect. You've been prepared for this day all of your life. First by Grandfather, and then by Father."

"Four more days and we'll go to the caves." Luke or Paul intoned. "We'll prepare them, and then that night we'll bring our master back into the world which cruelly expelled him."

"What a glorious thing that will be!" The woman sounded both faint and happy.

"Here Mother," Mark spoke gently. "Why don't you have some of your special tea?"

"Yes, it always makes me so sleepy…and I'd like to sleep." She murmured. "The caves; go to the caves tomorrow. Pretend you're sightseeing. Make sure they haven't been blocked."

They could hear the woman move away, but at least two of the men stayed close. "When do Jonas and Caro arrive?"

"Two days." Another of the men said lowly. "I don't like putting her into that close of contact with Caro for that long."

"It's only three days Luke. Nothing will happen."

"Just make sure you keep an eye on them at all times Paul. We can't afford any mistakes."

"Relax you two." Mark must have rejoined them. "Everything is going to be perfect. Caro has her instructions. Mother will be fine. Tomorrow we'll check the caves to be safe…Maybe we'll even have some free time to look into those girls we met at the bar this evening."


	10. Chapter 10

**10. Votes**

There wasn't much left to the night once the foursome got back to the bed and breakfast. They went to their respective rooms almost immediately, each of them contemplating all of the different information they'd managed to absorb that evening. They'd not only learned who the members of the Culling were, but they'd learned about their companions as well.

Faith flopped belly down onto her full sized bed and stared at the television. Buffy had turned it to a twenty four hour news station, and Faith quickly grabbed the remote and started channel hopping. Seeing as Buffy was touching up her nail polish, the brunette didn't think the other girl would mind. Buffy looked up as Faith hit a music channel, "Oh, look, My Chemical Romance."

Faith shrugged. "Yeah, they're groovy."

"Those demons seemed awfully concerned about the two females being near each other." Buffy began conversationally.

"I noticed that." Faith nodded. "Maybe it's sort of like animals; like one's an alpha or something. That mom lady seemed like a wimp."

"Yeah. Or I guess maybe the mom is like Clem, and the other chick could be like a nasty bad demon." The two girls settled down into their beds and flipped off the lights. It wasn't long before they drifted off to sleep with the strains of alternative music in the background.

"You should have heard it Sammy, the mother of those guys, if she is their mother, was a simpering mess." Dean was stretching out as he undressed for bed.

Sam yawned heavily. "Yeah, well, next time you can be look out…it's boring and it sucks."

Dean smirked. "Poor Sammy…Never gets to have any fun. Don't worry. It seems that the demons are interested in our Slayer friends, which means we'll be doing some tailing soon."

Sam frowned. "What do you mean interested?"

"One of them made the comment that maybe they'd have time to spend with them." This time Dean hid his smirk. Seemed to him that maybe his kid brother was developing a crush on one of the girls. Dean wondered which one it was. He frowned as he considered that it was possibly Faith.

"I know that's supposed to be the plan and all, but does it really seem like such a good idea to you to be using them as bait?" Sam asked as he pictured Buffy hanging out with the frat boy lookalikes from the bar. He wondered if that was her type, then he almost smacked himself in the head as he pushed the image from his thoughts.

Dean shrugged. "No point worrying tonight. Get some sleep. We can think again tomorrow."

In the morning Dean stumbled out of the bedroom to find everyone else already awake. Faith, dressed in a tank top and boxer shorts sat at the kitchen table reading a newspaper and drinking coffee. Buffy, dressed similar to Faith was on her cell phone. Sam had thrown on a shirt with his cotton sleep pants, and he sat on the couch with his trusty laptop. Dean scratched his bare chest absently and headed directly to the coffee pot. Slowly, Buffy's conversation made its way into his muddled brain.

"I'm just saying one would be helpful to try out as a test before you guys start mass producing them. What if they don't work?...No, don't get offended…I'm just being realistic…" Buffy winced as whoever was on the other end shrieked. Faith smirked. "Fine…fine…I'll ask…" Buffy looked up at Faith. "Faith, which do you like better; Orb of Exorcism or Sphere of Smite..." Again someone on the other end spoke. Buffy sighed. "Or Ball of Holy Fury."

Faith grimaced. "I thought we weren't letting Xander name anything anymore?"

Buffy shrugged. "He insisted."

Sam and Dean stared at each other in baffled amusement. Faith shrugged and went back to her paper, "I like Orbs of Exorcism."

"Two votes for Orbs." Buffy said into the phone. The other person spoke. "Well, no. Well, it's not really smiting is it? Smiting is like complete destruction and that's not what it's doing….Fine." Buffy turned to the guys. "They want your vote too."

Sam blinked, and Dean grinned. "I like Balls of Holy Fury."

"He would." Faith muttered as Buffy relayed the vote.

"What exactly are we voting on?" Sam asked hesitantly.

"Wills and Dawnie are working on a spell to enclose an exorcism into a globe. Then instead of having to stand over the person and read from the bible, we just drop the globe at the possessed person's feet, and wham, they're un-possessed…" Buffy explained.

"That would be…" Sam began.

"Awesome!" Dean exploded enthusiastically.

"Yeah, if it worked." Sam finished. "I doubt it ever could though. But in theory, I would go with Orb of Exorcism."

"Oh ye of little faith." The brunette Slayer didn't look up. "You'd be surprised what Red can pull off when she puts her mind to it. I mean we are talking about the girl who called all of the potential slayers into being."

Buffy had closed her phone. "The girl who almost ended the world."

"Shit, I believe she can do some powerful stuff. The girl held my ass in place with barely a thought." Dean snorted.

"So what won?" Faith asked as she turned her attention to Buffy.

"Well, Xander has decided Dean is his best friend, but Orb of Exorcism somehow managed to pull through." Buffy said wryly. "I swear I get tired of putting these things to a vote. Why can't they just name the damned things? They make them!"

"Same reason we don't let Xander name anything anymore…we'd get another 'jar of old lady cream'." Faith smirked.


End file.
